Eric Weiner, The Wild Honey Pie

💭 Thoughts on the intersection of the music & food, where to eat in the Hudson Valley, and a complete chef’s knife set.

Thought Enthusiast is an AdHoc Project where we chat with fascinating thought leaders across various facets of music, tech, and culture whose work we admire, simply asking “what’s on your mind?” and “why do you care?” 💭

Hailing from Saugerties, NY, Eric Weiner is the Founder of The Wild Honey Pie and lifelong fan of music in all forms, from musicals and karaoke to indie bands. He’s been producing events and video content as The Wild Honey Pie since 2009, with a quick stint at MTV along the way. Eric is most passionate about the intersecting worlds of music and food, and credits all his success to his dogs, Honey and Buzz.

🎯 Current focus

Right now I’m neck deep in planning of The Wild Honey Pie’s ski weekend intimate music festival, On The Mountain. It’s a beast of a project and we’re just about ready to confirm the full lineup so that’s been on my mind nonstop. I love bringing the experience of live music out of venues and into unexpected places like, in this case, the Hunter Mountain ski resort. Seeing your favorite bands in a setting such as this allows us to break down the barriers between artists and fans in really unique ways and result in one thing more than anything else, community building. For me, everything I’m working on is about bringing people together through the shared interests of music and food.

🍽️ Where to eat in the Hudson Valley 

I’ve been obsessed with some new restaurants I discovered since moving to the Woodstock, NY area. First, vegetarian fast food mini-chain, Moonburger. These folks are onto something here with the crispy onions on their burgers. And their special sauce? Fuck it’s all just so good. Happy for them that they’re expanding and growing so fast. Well deserved. We’re working with them on our Pizza Parties and On The Mountain, I’m excited to introduce their goodness to our community. 

Another favorite is Chleo, also in Kingston, NY. This place could very well be my favorite restaurant in the world. And it’s 15 minutes from my house! Their menu is constantly changing and they source every ingredient locally here in the Hudson Valley. Chef Charles and his wife and co-owner Hope are truly geniuses and are so playful with their menus. My favorite dish recently was their play on the Flintstones push pop, their orange sorbet with fluff and pistachio brittle. Entirely vegan, like me.

🎶 “Better Better” by Thom K

I randomly discovered a song called “Better Better” by Thom K recently, and it’s been on repeat. It’s tugging on my heart strings and has been something of an anthem for me in my still-young marriage to my wife, Phoebe. It’s just so cute and mushy and makes me want to cry. He barely has a following on Spotify but if he keeps writing songs like this that should change very soon. Around 1:54 in the song it really hits and the lyrics are just so friggin’ sweet. Love it.

🕉️ Mantra of the moment

We have a joke at The Wild Honey Pie after every event when we ask each other how we think it went, and the answer is always “best yet.” That’s become something of a goal or mantra for us. It’s an impossible goal but we’d like to make each project better than the last, or to at least be feeling those emotions and energy afterwards when we’re sharing an intimate moment together. It’s all subjective, but we’re hoping that our community feels this way too. That we’re making the right tweaks and changes to our formula that makes everything feel better and better.

🍄🦪 The intersection of the music & food

Seeing as we play in the intersection of the music and food industries I have to say that I really look up to Chef Rob Rubba from Oyster Oyster. There’s so much in common between what someone like Rob does in crafting his menus and building his business and what we’re trying to do at The Wild Honey Pie. Rob was recently awarded a Michelin star for the second consecutive year and I can only imagine how that level of validation feels. He’s truly a legend.

🔪 A complete chef’s knife set

I certainly couldn’t live without my chef knives. I’m a very passionate home chef and love my time in the kitchen. I completed a knife set this year from Master Shin’s Anvil who makes a killer product. It was a very exciting moment for me. Especially this time of year, I’m using these knives a lot for my holiday meals. Next up is my holiday party where I’m making various latkes, Juicy Marbles Wellington (my riff on a Beef Wellington) and some other seasonal favorites.

💦 Liquid Death Greatest Hates vinyl box set

I’ve loved to see what Liquid Death’s been doing with their vinyl releases. It’s just the tip of the iceberg of what I think is possible with branded releases but this is very much something I’d like to explore more in 2024. Just because a brand is involved, doesn’t mean a project needs to lose credibility or authenticity. Labels and brands can act in similar ways so I’m looking forward to The Wild Honey Pie’s work with brands to complement what labels do for bands in regards to video content, merch, tour support and more.

Follow Eric on Linkedin & Instagram, and follow The Wild Honey Pie here.

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